The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-10-06

Launch ef ~ TraiAlsas-Her Armansnt ~
The Now York Herald publishes the
following account Of the Launching Of
the Trafalgar, at Portsmouth. England;
In the presence of all the Lords Of the
Admiralty and an immense concourse
Of people. soon after noon. q war ship
Of exceptionally powerful typewas
launched ct Portsmouth to be added
to the royal navy as the Trafalgar.
She win be large and considerably
moro formidable than any other
British ironclad at present afoat.
Although some huge Italian warships
exceed her in tonnage displacement
and in heavy gun power not one OF
them is 40 we'll projected as the Ira.
falgar will be when finished.
She will dlsplace IL, $40 tons OF wa
ter, and will have cost not far short OF
f0OO, 900 (about "a. 500, OOO). As
she lies this. morning she has cost less
than $500. 600, and only 5000 tons
Of steel and iron have been working
into her massive hull. She is 845 feet
long and IS feet broad. Her coal
stowaee is 900 tons in fore and aft
bunkers. Her armament is to con-
sist of four ID LIZ inch 81. ton breech-
loading guns, eight 5-inch breech-load-
ing & ms, six SO FOUNDER quick-firinR
guns, eight 6-pounder and eleven g.
FOUNDER Hotchkiss quick-iring guns,
machine, boat and field guns
and twenty-four Whitehead torpe.
does.
The turret guns will fire projectlles
weighing 1850 pounds, with a powder
charge Of $50 pounds. and will train
through an angle Of $40 degree. The
eight 5-inch guns will be mounted on
the upper deck between the turrets,
and will be protected on the sides OF
the ship from rife fire by two thick
nesses Of hall. inch plating. and at each
end Of the battery by armored bulk
heads one inch thick, fitted upon six
inches of backing and an inner skin.
These guns will train through sixty de-
grees on each side of the beam. The
eight six-pounder Hotchkiss guns will
fire from the spar deck, but the three
FOUNDER guns will be distributed be-
tween the spar deck, the bridge, the
stern parts and the military ports.
There are eight torpedo tubes. tour
above and four below the water line.
the latter being fixed tubes. The above
water tubes are protected from ma
chine gun fire by two inch plating.
The vessel will be fitted with twin
screws. each driven by an independent
set of triple expansion engines, with
three vertical cylinders OF q collective
power of six thousand horses for each
set. The weight of this machinery is
to be about one thousand and thirty
tons. The crank and propeller shaft
ing are hollow and are made OF COM
pressed steel. The diameter of the
screw propellers will be about sixteen
feet.
Another turret ship, exactly like her
and of her dimensions, is building at
Pembroke, to be called the Nile.
The Daily News, commenting on the
event. says: at is not improbable
that these two monsters will be the
last of our very big ironclads. No
others of the first class size have. dur
ing the past two years, been laid down,
and among naval constructors the
conviction is now rapidly gaining
ground that. for practical purposes,
vessels OF moderate tonnage always
provided they are OF great speed
will be found more useful than levia-
thans. Our present ignorance OF the
realities OF modern naval warfare run
us into dangerous risks by investing,
in the construction of single ironclads,
n,,r,,s which otharwisa dishursad would
provide whole fotilla offast cruisers,
armoured gunboats and swift torpedo
vessels"